Article ID: 150930
Article Last Modified on 2/21/2007
APPLIES TO
- Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition (32-bit x86)
- Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition (32-bit x86)
- Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition (32-bit x86)
- Microsoft Windows XP Professional
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional Edition
- Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Developer Edition
- Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 Standard Edition
- Microsoft Windows NT Server 3.51
- Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 3.51
- Microsoft Windows NT Server 3.5
- Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 3.5
This article was previously published under Q150930
Important This article contains information about modifying the registry. Before you modify the registry, make sure to back it up and make sure that you understand how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For information about how to back up, restore, and edit the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
256986 Description of the Microsoft Windows Registry
SYMPTOMS
When a formatted job prints from a line printer remote (LPR) client to a Windows NT computer that is running the Line Printing Daemon (LPD) services, PCL or PostScript codes are printed instead of a properly formatted document.
RESOLUTION
The LPD service can be reconfigured to ignore the format control command from the LPR client and always assign the RAW data type. Use one of the appropriate sections below to reconfigure the LPD service.
Configuring SimulatePassThrough for all printers in Windows XP Professional and Windows Server 2003
To assign the RAW data type regardless of the control file contents in Windows XP Professional and in Windows Server 2003, follow these steps.
Warning If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.
- Start Registry Editor.
- From the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE subtree, click the following subkey:
\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LPDSVC\Parameters - On the Edit menu, click New, and then click DWORD Value.
- Name the new entry SimulatePassThrough.
- Double-click the SimulatePassThrough entry, and then change the data value to 1.
Note The default data value is 0. A 0 data value informs LPD to assign data types according to the control commands. - Click OK.
- Quit Registry Editor.
Configuring SimulatePassThrough for all printers in Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000
To assign the RAW data type regardless of the control file contents in Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000, do the following:
WARNING: Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious, system- wide problems that may require you to reinstall Windows NT to correct them. Microsoft cannot guarantee that any problems resulting from the use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use this tool at your own risk.
- Run Registry Editor (REGEDT32.EXE).
- From the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE subtree, go to the following key:
\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LPDSVC\Parameters
- On the Edit menu, click Add Value.
- Add the following:
Value Name: SimulatePassThrough
Data Type: REG_DWORD
Data: 1
NOTE: The default value is 0, which informs LPD to assign data types according to the control commands.
Configuring SimulatePassThrough in Windows NT 3.51
In Windows NT 3.51 the code looks for a registry setting in the LPD key instead of the LPDSVC key. You can work around this problem by creating an LPD key at the same level as the LPDSVC key and then duplicating the information in the LPDSVC key to the LPD key.
For Windows NT 3.51 to assign the RAW data type, regardless of the control file contents, do the following:
WARNING: Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious, system- wide problems that may require you to reinstall Windows NT to correct them. Microsoft cannot guarantee that any problems resulting from the use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use this tool at your own risk.
- Run Registry Editor (REGEDT32.EXE).
- From the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE subtree, go to the following key:
\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LPDSVC\Parameters
- On the Edit menu, click Add Value.
- Add the following:
Value Name: SimulatePassThrough
Data Type: REG_DWORD
Data: 1
NOTE: The default value is 0, which informs LPD to assign data types according to the control commands.
- To work around the problem mentioned above, create an LPD key at the same level of the LPDSVC key.
- Click the LPDSVC Key, click Save Key from the Registry menu, and then save the file as LPDSVC.KEY.
- Click the LPD key created in step 5.
- Click Restore on the Registry menu, click the file created in step 6, and then click OK.
- A warning message appears. Click OK and then quit Registry Editor.
- At a command prompt, type:
net stop lpdsvc
- At a command prompt, type:
net start lpdsvc
MORE INFORMATION
The Windows NT LPD Service follows the RFC1179 specification. This states that the LPR client must tell the LPD server how to handle the print job. If the client formats the job, it must send the "l" control character to instruct the LPD server to print the job without any alteration.
Some LPR clients cannot be configured to send different control characters and always send an "f". This control character instructs Windows NT to assign a data type of TEXT and to use the printer driver to create a new print job that prints the text of the original job on the page. In the case of a postscript job, the new print job prints the original job's PostScript code on the page.
For additional information, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
124735 How Windows NT LPD server implements LPR control characters
132460 Troubleshooting Windows NT print server alteration of print jobs
168457 Configuring individual printers to passthrough LPR print jobs
Additional query words: prodnt unix aix sun solaris LPR
Keywords: kbnetwork kbprint KB150930
